Thomas Ward & Anne (Ann) Reese 2G Grandparents

Thomas Ward

Birth:	Jun. 20, 1838 Leicestershire, England
Death:	Feb. 19, 1904 Bloomington, Idaho

Ann Reese Ward

Birth:	Jun. 5, 1842, Wales
Death:	Jun. 29, 1892
Cemetery notes say Born Neath, Glam, So.Whales. Father: Thomas Reese.

This is an excerpt from a book called "Progressive men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida counties" by A. W. Bowen & Co.

"Thomas Ward, of Bloomington, Bear Lake county, was born in 1838 at Moira, Leicestershire, England, a son of John and Emma (Hogg) Ward. His parents were natives of England and were married in 1837. The father was a collier and worked in the mines in his native land until, in 1864, they came to the United States at the son's request, and located at Bountiful, Utah. Years later they removed to the neighborhood of Bloomington, Idaho, and there lived on a farm until, in the fullness of time, the end came, and they were laid to rest amid the pleasant surroundings of their new home. During his life the father was prominent in the work of the Mormon church, filling several offices of importance and responsibility in its councils, both in England and in this country. John Ward, the great-grandfather of Thomas, was a soldier in the Crimean war and assisted at the siege and was present at the surrender of Sebastopol.

Thomas Ward was educated in the schools of Whitwick, Leicestershire, England. and in 1861, he came to the United States, proceeding at once to Salt Lake City and there taking part in the work of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, with which he had been connected from his fourteenth year, and which he had earlier served as a priest. He passed one winter in the Mormon metropolis and worked on the President John Theatre, which was then in building. In the spring he hired to Samuel Orms and went to Tooele, Utah, and worked at the charcoal business there in Rush Valley.

He remained in that neighborhood until 1863, and, in the autumn of that year, returned to Bountiful and thereafter engaged in limeburning at Hot Springs until 1866. He then came to Bear Lake county, and, locating at Bloomington, turned his attention to farming and limeburning, being the pioneer worker in the valley in the latter industry. In connection with these pursuits he raised stock, and he pushed all his business operations vigorously. He has been until recently engaged sedulously in church work, presiding over the sixth corps of the Seventies, but by reason of failing health he is now debarred from doing active ministerial work among the people. In politics Mr. Ward has been an active and energetic Republican, being for years the president of the Republican club of Bloomington, and also a member of the county central committee of his party.

Mr. Ward was married in 1869, in Utah, to Miss Ann Reese, a native of Wales and a daughter of Thomas and Margaret Reese, of that country, where they passed their entire lives as their forefathers in both lines of ancestry had done for many generations. Mrs. Ward died in Bloomington, in 1892, leaving eight children, all of whom are living. They are Margaret A., Mary, Thomas R., Emma Elizabeth, John M., George Henry, Abram and Peter Rastus. Mr. Ward contracted a second marriage in November 1898, being united on this occasion with Mrs. Harriet (Welker) Thompson, a daughter of Jacob and Angelina (Lesh) Welker, natives of Nauvoo, Ill., and she was born at North Willard, Box Elder county, Utah."